Post

Sweet Child In Time

Jacques was peacefully sleeping in one of Antoine's beds and dreaming of better times. He was having a dream about his family and his mother, deep inside, he missed her, and he even regrets escaping from his family, but it's now a little bit too late for him to return. After a few minutes, Jacques then woke up and stared at the roof for a couple of seconds. Just as he was about to stand up, suddenly, he heard an extremely loud explosion outside. It was as loud as a thunder, and he could've sworn his ears blew up. After recovering from this initial state of shock, he went to Antoine's room to alert him of what was going on. Antoine was already awake when Jacques went to his room, and he was just as confused as he was.

"Jacques, what the hell is going on?".

"Well, sh*t, that's what I was going to ask you!".

"I think I know what's going on, the militias are here. Quick, I want you to grab your stuff and flee from this place. This thing is about to get bloody".

"But what about you, Antoine?".

"I'll be fine. I'm going to join the United Front, I already have my rifle ready".

"But...but Jacques! I don't want to be alone! Really? You're going to abandon and ignore me just like my family did?".

"No, you don't get it. This isn't about you being alone anymore, this is about saving your goddamn life. Look, I would've loved getting to know you more, but seems like life has other plans for us. It was nice knowing you kid, I wish you a good life".

"But...Antoine! Please! Please! I don't...I just...I just want somebody to love..." The young boy then started to cry, his eyes were like small waterfalls.

"Look...I get it, I totally get it, but...you can't simply fight along with me. You're too young, and I don't want you to get traumatized by war again. You already experienced the trenches, and it was not pretty. What if you watch me die along your side? You'll break down crying and will not know what to do".

"Well, if we were going to die side by side, then at least it was with a comrade!".

"That doesn't matter...just...go already...please, you'll make things worse".

Jacques had no other choice, he had to run away. There was no other way to convince Antoine to change his opinion, the thing was set in stone. Jacques then grabbed all of his bags, his uniform, and when he stepped outside of Antoine's chalet, he started to run towards the horizon.

"I'll miss that kid..." Antoine thought to himself while cleaning his rifle.

"He was like the son I never had, and now...I'll probably never see him again, didn't even ask for his surname".

"Come on Antoine, just...get him out of your head, try to forget him".

After a couple of minutes of rocking his chair back and forth, Antoine finally grabbed all of the ammunition he had, his hunting rifle, and headed towards Grandcamp, where all of the fighting was probably happening. While on his way to the center of the city, he noticed that the city he loved so much was completely destroyed. Rubble was everywhere, the air smelled of death, and there were bodies everywhere. The scene looked like it came straight out of a horror book, but this was no fantasy, this was real life. He also noticed that the city was awfully quiet, maybe all of the main fighting had already happened?

While walking through the streets of Grandcamp, Antoine noticed that there were several NCL/United Front flags waving all over the place. It seemed that the city was already captured by them, then what was all of the noise he had heard after being woken up by what seemed to be artillery? He then entered a building that had the letters "HQ". This was probably the NCL's local headquarters, he thought.

"Hello, is anybody here?' His voice echoed all over the seemingly empty building.

"Ah, hello there!" Said a mysterious female voice.

"Who is that? Where are you?".

"Ah, right here" A woman then rose from behind a desk, she was hiding there.

"Oh Jesus Christ, you scared me. Anyways, who are you and what is this place?".

"To answer both of your questions, my name is Mia, and I'm a recruiter for the Cosmic Militia. Want to sign up? Just talk with me! Well, to answer your second question, this is the UF's local headquarters".

"And...why is the city so...empty? Did y'all already capture the city?".

"Nope, we're still capturing the northern districts of the city, resistance is quite fierce there".

"Well...can I join the fighting?".

"Sure! Just sign this piece of paper, then, I'll take you to the front. Here, have a pen".

Antoine then quickly signed the paper, deep inside he didn't know what he was getting into, but he knew it had to be done to save his nation from the reactionaries.

Mia then took Antoine to the front by car. While on the way, Antoine thought of Jacques one last time, he had one wish and one wish only, he just hoped that the kid was doing fine.